Spacey, Estevez among Dublin guests

Martin Sheen, Ken Loach also attend Irish film fest

With Kevin Spacey, Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen and Ken Loach among industryites set to travel to Ireland for the Jameson Dublin Film Festival, the government has announced it will extend tax relief for film and TV production until December 2015.

Program, dubbed Section 481, was due to expire at the end of 2012. It offers a 28% benefit for projects, up to a ceiling of €50 million ($68.3 million) on qualifying expenditure.

Irish Film Board chairman James Morris said, “The guarantee comes at a crucial time and will ensure stability and certainty for international producers planning to co-produce with Ireland.”

A total of 57 projects qualified last year, with a combined spend in Ireland of $225 million.

International projects included miniseries “Camelot,” for which Starz holds U.S. rights, and pics “This Must Be the Place,” starring Sean Penn and Frances McDormand, Steven Soderbergh’s “Haywire” and “Albert Nobbs,” with Glenn Close.

The Dublin fest is due to open with Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut “Submarine” on Feb. 17 and close with Francois Ozon’s comedy “Potiche” on Feb. 27.

Among pics to screen are Estevez’s “The Way,” starring Sheen as a grieving father, and Loach’s Iraq War thriller “Route Irish.”

Spacey will launch the Jameson Cult Film Club, a classic movie screening series that kicks off with a showing of “The Usual Suspects,” in which he starred.